This 83 years old granny was accused of training her 65 cats to steal from neighbors
We can’t choose our neighbours, but even if we could, we would always look for calm and pleasant people. This would have been a nice option for the people living in a small neighbourhood in Columbus, Ohio. What happened there, left the neighbours of Ruth Gregson and her 65 cats simply speechless.
The 83-year old woman was arrested and accused of training dozens of cats to steal jewellery and other valuables from her neighbours.
The Columbus Police Department opened an investigation on Ruth Gregson and her 65 cats in October after several neighbours reported small objects being stolen from their homes.
Several victims reported being visited by Ms Gregson’s cats before noticing the disappearance of several shiny objects, like valuable cutlery and pieces of jewellery.
Despite their scepticism, investigators began a surveillance operation and were amazed by what they discovered.
According to Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs, dozens of cats were constantly coming and going, bringing home “anything that shined”.
“She was like Fagin in Oliver Twist, but she was using cats as thieves instead of children. In less than three hours of surveillance, the detectives saw the cats bring home more than a hundred objects.”
Upon searching Ms. Gregson’s house, investigators found $650,000 worth of jewellery and precious metal among piles of worthless shiny baubles.
A total of 65 adult cats and 17 kittens were found on the site and entrusted to the Columbus Humane Society.
Chief Jacobs says the elderly woman confessed to training her cats to steal, saying the felines had to “earn their meals”.
“She would only feed the animals if they brought home valuables, so the animals had to steal every day in order to survive. Most were voluntarily malnourished so they would easily gain the neighbours’ pity and be allowed inside their houses.”
According to the Columbus Police, Ms Gregson’s animals could have been stolen from more than 5,000 houses and apartments in the area, and investigators invite possible victims to contact them.
While Ms. Gregson is the first person in American history to be accused of training cats to steal, this isn’t the first time that animals are trained to commit crimes.
In 2009, surveillance caught a monkey stealing hundreds of dollars worth of plants from a Texas nursery.
At the time, the police and store owners had hypothesized that the monkey had been trained to take the plants and hand them over a fence to a waiting human accomplice.
In 2013, a Chicago court sentenced a man to five years in prison for training ferrets to steal cell phones from people on the street and on public buses.
This 83 years old granny was accused of training her 65 cats to steal from neighbors - New Jersey Brief
She really had literal cat burglar walking out of people's houses like
Source:https://newjerseybrief.com/2022/03/...training-her-65-cats-to-steal-from-neighbors/
